HIGHLIGHTS-Hedge funds pile into SunEdison shares ahead of plunge

NEW YORK/BOSTON Feb 16 (Reuters) - Top U.S. hedge fund
management firms, including Visium Asset Management, took stakes
in embattled renewable energy company SunEdison Inc
during the fourth quarter.

Visium put on a new position, buying 1.3 million shares,
while Sand Grove Capital Management added a new position of
272,000 shares. Adage Capital Partners bought 9.2 million shares
to own 17 million at the end of the quarter.

These hedge fund investors did not catch the bottom. Shares
of SunEdison are down more than 72 percent so far this year.

All told, plenty of managers also exited SunEdison,
including Senvest Management, Cobalt Capital Management and the
State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio.

The disclosures are backward-looking and come out 45 days
after the end of each quarter. Still, the filings offer a
glimpse into what hedge fund managers saw as investment
opportunities.

The filings do not disclose short positions, or bets that a
stock will fall. As a result, the public filings do not always
present a complete picture of a management firm's stock
holdings.

The following are some of the hot stocks and sectors in
which hedge fund managers either took new positions or exited
existing stakes in the fourth quarter.